Coaching in the Workplace
Even though COVID-19 may disrupt this year’s Major League Baseball season, the rules of the game can still help our team members at Dasher hit home runs.
It can also help team members who are not consistently stepping up to the plate.
We have high expectations for each team member. If they are not meeting them, the last resort is a three-step course correction process. Each step involves a face-to-face conversation to talk about the values they are deviating from, and how to get back on track.
We are very specific about our expectations and their deviations, and we are consistent in giving team scorecards.
In presenting trouble spots, our managers deliver feedback that respects the dignity of each team member. We do not talk down to team members. We speak adult-to-adult. And we do not throw someone out of the game without listening, mentoring and trying to turn a record around.
Both the team member and the manager must commit to getting back on track. More training, coaching, behavior modeling, and perhaps role-playing can help.
After that initial “listening” meeting, we schedule another in 30 days. If downfalls are corrected, the course correction process is, happily, ended at that point.
If not, a third meeting occurs.
In the rare event that a team member shows no improvement by the third meeting, it is time for them to leave the field.
While in baseball, it’s “Three strikes, you’re out,” we coach between every pitch.
Our team members know of this process from the time they pass “Go.”
Because we want our team members to succeed, we take ownership of the solutions.
Even if troubling behavior hasn’t yet equaled a strike, we address it as soon as possible.
For example, one of our team members came to work in a jacket with a saying on the back. Although many team members found the jacket to be hilarious, some found it offensive. This jacket led to a dialogue and a new policy.
Our dress code rule became: If you get dressed and then wonder to yourself, ‘Is this OK to wear?’ then don’t wear it.
By addressing minor infractions quickly and taking the time to listen to our team members, we rarely have a major-league infraction or the need to call the final out.
Dasher is a data-driven, customer contact services operation with a focus on communicating complex messages to diverse populations. Specific capabilities include face-to-face communications provided by our field teams, customer engagement strategies provided by our call center and member engagement staff, and secure, complex, variable mailing services provided by our production team. Dasher is an experienced Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (MWDBE) with a bestselling book, “The Talent Pool,” and is certified by AICPA with the SOC2SM Type2 data certification and validation.